When people think of the best Tim Burton movies, the first thing that typically pops into their minds is the unique filmmaker’s wild visual style. However, we cannot deny that his films also boast some equally trippy and amusing dialogue. See for yourself by looking back on some of the most incredible lines from the incredible filmmaker’s greatest hits.

“It’s Showtime” - Beetlejuice

Out of all the best quotes from Beetlejuice – Tim Burton's ghostly sophomore effort from 1988 – there is only one line that best defines Michael Keaton's titular bio-exorcist (actually spelled "Betelgeuse"). The announcement of his return to the land of the living after Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) says his name thrice is on par with the memorably epic delivery of The Shining's "Here's Johnny!"

"I Want To Thank My Grandma For Always Being So Good To Me, And, And For Helping Save The World And Everything" - Mars Attacks!

Out of all the crazy things that have happened in alien invasion movies, Slim Whitman’s “Indian Love Call” being used as a weapon against the Martians in 1996's Mars Attacks! is one of the most unique. Because the song's weaponizing purpose was discovered accidentally by his grandmother, Florence (Sylvia Sidney), Richie Norris (Lukas Haas) attributes Earth's survival to her in a celebratory ceremony.

"You Ever Dance With The Devil In The Pale Moonlight?" - Batman

Any argument for why Jack Nicholson remains one of the greatest Joker actors in cinematic history can be narrowed down to just one quote from the first of Tim Burton's live-action Batman movies, 1989's Batman. While the Clown Prince of Crime likes to say it to all his prey just for the way it sounds to him, it holds a special significance to Bruce Wayne (Michael Keaton), reigniting a lost memory of his parents' tragic murder.

"I Know You Are But What Am I?" - Pee-wee's Big Adventure

We can thank the late, great Paul Reubens and his signature iconic man-child for introducing the ultimate comeback to any insult. It never ceases to be funny no matter how many times he repeats it in a vicious back-and-forth with Francis Buxton (Mark Holton) early on Tim Burton's feature-length directorial debut, 1985's Pee-wee's Big Adventure.

"At Last! My Arm Is Complete Again!" - Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street

One of the best Tim Burton/Johnny Depp collaborations is the 2007 cinematic adaptation of the bleak stage musical, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. The title character of the acclaimed revenge movie (Depp) finds purpose again after years behind bars when he is reunited with his razor, which he uses to punish those who wronged him.

"I've Spent So Long In The Darkness, I'd Almost Forgotten How Beautiful The Moonlight Is" - Corpse Bride

Surprisingly, Corpse Bride – a spooky stop-motion fantasy in which the meek Victor (Johnny Depp) accidentally finds himself married to the undead Emily (Helena Bonham Carter) – is considered one of Tim Burton's most criminally overlooked films. We are inclined to agree that moments like this, in which Emily is given the opportunity to see the moon for the first time since her death, deserve far more appreciation.

"They Say When You Meet The Love Of Your Life, Time Stops, And That's True. What They Don't Tell You Is That When It Starts Again, It Moves Extra Fast To Catch Up" - Big Fish

One of the most romantic movie quotes in recent memory comes from Tim Burton's 2007 adaptation of Daniel Wallace's novel, Big Fish, when Albert FInney's Ed Bloom recalls the moment his younger self (Ewan McGregor) first laid eyes on his wife. Anyone who has found love would agree that it certainly feels like the world stops when they find it and that life seems to go by all too quickly from that point on.

"It Is Truth, But Truth Is Not Always Appearance" - Sleepy Hollow

Take a tribute to old-fashioned period horror dramas like Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow from 1999 which offers such an insightful lesson in differentiating what is real from what is illusion. Johnny Depp's Ichabod Crane demonstrates how things are not always what they seem by taking out a yarn with a card in the center bearing a picture of a bird on one side and a cage on the other. When he spins the yarn, it looks as if the bird is in the cage.

"If He Weren't Up There Now, I Don't Think It Would Be Snowing. Sometimes, You Can Still Catch Me Dancing In It" - Edward Scissorhands

Easily one of the most unique Tim Burton movies in concept alone, 1990's Edward Scissorhands is also a wondrous experience in execution for the imagination expressed in a single line like its last. Elderly Kim (Winona Ryder) explains to her granddaughter that, in their neighborhood, the snowfall is actually shrapnel from the title character's ice sculptures, which he craves with his blades for fingers.

“Well, I Attended Juilliard…” - Beetlejuice

Searching for a way to rid their house of the Deetzes, the recently deceased Adam (Alec Baldwin) and Barbara Maitland (Geena Davis) ask Betelguese (Michael Keaton) about his “qualifications,” to which he replies this uproarious autobiography. The full Beetlejuice quote reads, "Ah. Well... I attended Juilliard... I'm a graduate of the Harvard business school. I travel quite extensively. I lived through the Black Plague and had a pretty good time during that. I've seen THE EXORCIST ABOUT A HUNDRED AND SIXTY-SEVEN TIMES, AND IT KEEPS GETTING FUNNIER EVERY SINGLE TIME I SEE IT! NOT TO MENTION THE FACT THAT YOU'RE TALKING TO A DEAD GUY! NOW WHAT DO YOU THINK? You think I'm qualified?"

"Play Dead... Oh, Sorry" - Corpse Bride

As a gift from Emily, Victor receives the enviable opportunity to be reunited with his long-deceased dog, Scraps, in Corpse Bride. The man becomes so caught up in this joyous event that he almost forgets his once-furry friend is a ghost when he calls out a common command.

"This Is The One. 'This' Is The One I'll Be Remembered For" - Ed Wood

One of Tim Burton's most widely acclaimed films is the Oscar-winning 1994 biopic Ed Wood, starring Johnny Depp as the director of such trashy B-movies as Plan 9 from Outer Space. The filmmaker is actually referring to the 1957 alien invasion movie in this quote and he would, indeed, turn out to be correct.

"This Is What Happens When You Die...” - Beetlejuice

The full quote by Beetlejuice cast member Patrice Martinez as Miss Argentina reads, "This is what happens when you die. That is what happens when he dies. And that is what happens when they die. It's all very personal. And I'll tell you something: if I knew then what I know now...I wouldn't have had my little accident." It is the waiting room receptionist's fascinating way of explaining to Adam and Barbara how everyone's experience of the Afterlife is different, depending on the cause of death.

"...But A Kiss Can Be Even Deadlier If You Mean It" - Batman Returns

In 1992's Batman Returns, the Dark Knight (Michael Keaton) mentions mistletoe can be "deadly if you eat it," prompting this cheeky reply from Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman. One of Michael Keaton's coolest Batman moments sees this quote make a reprise during a later scene at Max Schreck's ball, when Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle quote each other's alter egos, leading them to discover their true identities.

"I Read Through That Handbook For The Recently Deceased...” - Beetlejuice

When the Maitlands ask Lydia how she is able to see their ghosts, she says that the Handbook for the Recently Deceased explains that "live people ignore the strange and unusual," and adds, "I myself am strange and unusual." There is no greater quote to associate with Winona Ryder's teen goth hero from Beetlejuice than this.

"You Wanna Get Nuts? C'Mon, Let's Get Nuts!" - Batman

Michael Keaton's willingness to have Bruce Wayne let out his dark side even when he is not in the cape and cowl is one of the essential reasons why he is one of the best live-action Batman actors of all time. Exhibit A: when he threatens the Joker in Vicki Vale's (Kim Basinger) living room with a fire poker and this unhinged call to action.

"That's The Problem. He Was Dead To Begin With" - Sleepy Hollow

In Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow, while it takes a while for Johnny Depp's Ichabod Crane to realize the deadly Headless Horseman exists, he catches on to the unusual weight of the situation relatively quickly. After Young Masbath (Marc Pickering) asks if the villain is dead, Ichabod claims that it might be impossible to kill him as he is already deceased.

"My Dreams Were Taken From Me. But Now - Now I've Stolen Them From Someone Else. I Love You, Victor, But You Are Not Mine" - Corpse Bride

Tim Burton's Corpse Bride is one of the most beautiful stories based on the philosophy that the best way to prove you love someone is by letting them go. Emily is genuinely smitten by the man who brought her soul back to life but, realizing that Victor is meant to be with Victoria (Emily Watson), she moves on.

"C'mon, Simone, Let's Talk About Your Big 'But'" - Pee-wee's Big Adventure

One of the most moving scenes from Pee-wee's Big Adventure also involves one of its funniest quotes. While watching the sunrise together, Simone (Diane Salinger) tells Pee-wee about her dream to live in Paris, which he urges her to follow despite what her jealous boyfriend, Andy, says. She replies, "I know you're right, Pee-wee, but..." at which point he cuts her off, encouraging her to discuss her "big but," which an eavesdropping Andy misinterprets as them getting intimate.

"If You Don't Let Me Gut Out This House And Make It My Own, I Will Go Insane AND I WILL TAKE YOU WITH ME!" - Beetlejuice

In a movie filled with grotesque ghouls and sandworms from Saturn, the most uproarious scenes in Beetlejuice are truly owned by Schitt’s Creek cast member Catherine O’Hara as Delia Deetz. The film introduces her unusual artistic taste and iron-fisted approach to preserving it early on when pleading with her husband, Charles (Jeffrey Jones), to let her change the Maitlands' home to her liking.

"Guess It Wasn't The Dove" - Mars Attacks!

In Mars Attacks!, the Martians kill all of Congress, prompting First Daughter Taffy Dale (Natalie Portman) to quip that the dove which seemingly set off the first angry attack on humanity was not the cause. They just don't like humans.

"Because He IS Batman, You Moron!" - Batman Returns

Some might say Max Schreck (Christopher Walken) from Batman Returns is one of the most overlooked Batman movie characters but he also has his moments of density. For instance, when he asks Bruce Wayne why he is dressed like the Dark Knight, Selina Kyle responds with what is easily one of the funniest Batman movie moments.

"You're Entirely Bonkers. But I'll Tell You A Secret. All The Best People Are" - Alice In Wonderland

We would attribute the success of Tim Burton's 2010 adaptation of Alice in Wonderland, not just for its wondrous visuals, but for the way it serves as a source of inspiration to anyone who ever felt a little "out there." We imagine many people found encouragement in these words from Alice (Mia Wasikowska) to Johnny Depp's Mad Hatter.

“You Don't Wanna Get Mixed Up With A Guy Like Me. I'm A Loner, Dottie. A Rebel" - Pee-wee's Big Adventure

While its seems like an unlikely description for a goofy man in a red bowtie, anyone who truly understands Paul Reubens' Pee-wee knows that he is quite rebellious. Later in Pee-wee's Big Adventure, he experiences "déjà vu" when escaped convict Mickey (Judd Omen) repeats what he told Dottie (E.G. Daily) almost word for word.

"Who's The Man Behind The Bat? Maybe You Can Help Me Find The Woman Behind The Cat?" - Batman Returns

One of the things that makes Michelle Pfeiffer's performance in Batman Returns one of the all-time best Catwoman portrayals is how she makes the feline-esque thief's romance with the vigilante feel so authentic. Despite existing on opposite sides of the law, the Bat and the Cat truly complete each other.

"Visions Are Worth Fighting For. Why Spend Your Life Making Someone Else's Dreams?" - Ed Wood

At least from a creative perspective, there may not be a more inspirational quote from a Tim Burton movie than these words of wisdom from Ed Wood. Perfectly cast by Vincent D'Onofrio, Orson Welles encourages the B-movie filmmaker to hold on to his artistic integrity, no matter what the cost.

"Science Is Not Good Or Bad, Victor. But It Can Be Used Both Ways. That Is Why You Must Always Be Careful" - Frankenweenie

Based on the 1984 short film that launched Tim Burton's career, the 2012 stop-motion favorite Frankeweenie follows an ambitious young boy who attempts to resurrect his beloved dog from the dead. The complications that come from this feat are prophesied by these otherwise encouraging words from his mentor, Mr. Rzykruski (Martin Landau).

"Candy Doesn't Have To Have A Point. That's Why It's Candy" - Charlie And The Chocolate Factory

If there is any reason to like Tim Burton's 2005 adaptation of Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, it is Freddie Highmore's performance in the title role. The poor boy understands the purpose of sweet treats better than any of the five children chosen to tour the famed factory.

"You Know What, I Mistook Me For Somebody Else" - Batman Returns

During Bruce Wayne's funny meet cute with Selina Kyle in Batman Returns, he tries to tell Max Schreck's assistant that he meant to say he mistook her for somebody else to cover for the fact that he previously ran into her as Batman. That being said, to say that he mistook himself for somebody else is more accurate.

"A Man Tells His Stories So Many Times That He Becomes The Stories. They Live On After Him, And In That Way He Becomes Immortal" - Big Fish

Big Fish is a really a series of stories that Albert Finney's Ed Bloom recalls to his son, Will (Billy Crudup), who believes his tales are nothing more than fantasy. However, at the end of his father's life, he comes to realize that his stories, no matter how unbelievable, have contributed to his enduring legacy.

“If You Insist On Frightening People, Do It With Your Sculptures" - Beetlejuice

Talk show host Dick Cavett has an all-too-brief appearance in Beetlejuice as Delia's art agent that is made iconic by just one line following the memorable musical moment in the horror movie involving Harry Belafonte's "The Banana Boat Song (Day-O)." Convinced their spontaneous possession was actually a prank, he chooses to end his professional relationship with the eccentric sculptor with this cruel burn.

"Everything In This Room Is Eatable, Even I'm Eatable! But That Is Called 'Cannibalism,' My Dear Children, And Is In Fact Frowned Upon In Most Societies" - Charlie And The Chocolate Factory

Some people criticize Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for Johnny Depp's incomprehensibly strange performance as Willy Wonka. However, we have to admit, we get a chuckle out of this version of the eccentric chocolatier, especially in how his explanation of the edible qualities of his indoor meadow goes pretty dark.

Now is a perfect time to watch some of Shelley Duvall’s best movies to honor her memory. The actor — known best as Wendy in 1980’s The Shining or for her many collaborations with legendary filmmaker Robert Altman — passed away at the age of 75 in her sleep due to complications with diabetes. Celebrate the life and career of the acclaimed actor by watching some of her greatest hits, which we have compiled below, along with how to watch them.

Brewster McCloud (1970)

A young introvert (played by Bud Cort) who lives in the Houston Astrodome becomes embroiled in a bizarre murder investigation while attempting to construct a pair of functioning wings, with the help of his guardian angel (played by Sally Kellerman).

Why it is one of the best Shelley Duvall movies: Duvall made her screen acting debut in the eccentric comedy, Brewster McCloud — her first collaboration with director Robert Altman (a filmmaker who is not talked about enough), in which she stars as an Astrodome tour guide name Suzanne Davis, who becomes the love interest of the reclusive title character.

Rent or buy Brewster McCloud on Amazon.
Buy Brewster McCloud on Blu-ray on Amazon.

McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)

The thriving partnership between a charismatic expert card player (played by Warren Beatty) and a professional madam (played by Julie Christie, in an Academy Award-nominated role) is threatened by a generous offer from a larger company in a small mining village in the Old West. 

Why it is one of the best Shelley Duvall movies: Duvall’s second film and second collaboration with Altman is McCabe & Mrs. Miller — an “anti-Western,” as the filmmaker called it, in which the actor plays Ida Coyle, who works as a sex worker at John McCabe and Constance Miller’s brothel.

Stream McCabe & Mrs. Miller on Tubi.
Rent or buy McCabe & Mrs. Miller on Amazon.
Buy McCabe & Mrs. Miller on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Nashville (1975)

The interconnected stories of a group of popular musicians, aspiring musicians, and other individuals on their adventures through Tennessee.

Why it is one of the best Shelley Duvall movies: Duvall reunited with Altman once again to join the star-studded ensemble cast of one of the best movies of the 1970s, the wonderfully satirical Nashville, as a woman named Martha, who changes her name to “L.A. Joan” and uses up all of the time she promised to spend with her dying aunt chasing after male country musicians instead.

Buy Nashville on Amazon.
Buy Nashville on Blu-ray on Amazon.

3 Women (1977)

A meek, teenage spa attendant (played by Academy Award winner Sissy Spacek), her adult colleague and new roommate (played by Duvall), and a pregnant, middle-aged bar owner and aspiring artist (played by Janice Rule) share a unique bond with one other.

Why it is one of the best Shelley Duvall movies: Duvall’s fourth Altman film would be an entirely different kind of tale called 3 Women — a dreamy and surreal psychological drama that analyzes the concept of identity and self-actualization in a thought-provoking and sometimes unsettling manner.

Rent or buy 3 Women on Amazon.
Buy 3 Women on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Annie Hall (1977)

A neurotic, twice divorced stand-up comic (played by Woody Allen) recalls the doomed romance he once shared with a charmingly eccentric aspiring musician (played by Diane Keaton in an Academy Award-winning performance) in New York City.

Why it is one of the best Shelley Duvall movies: Duvall would work with plenty more prolific filmmakers outside of Altman, such as Woody Allen in the inventively funny, charmingly romantic Best Picture Oscar winner Annie Hall in the role of Pam — a writer for Rolling Stone who has a brief, “Kafkaesque” relationship with Allen’s character, Alvy.

Stream Annie Hall on Tubi.
Rent or buy Annie Hall on Amazon.
Buy Annie Hall on Blu-ray on Amazon.

The Shining (1980)

During the winter, an author (played by Jack Nicholson) and his family act as caretakers for an empty, isolated Colorado hotel that soon proves to have a mysterious and disturbing effect on his behavior.

Why it is one of the best Shelley Duvall movies: With much influence from the writer and director’s questionable on-set treatment, Duvall gave one of the most iconic and striking performances of her career in one of the all-time greatest horror movies, The Shining — Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of Stephen King’s novel — as Wendy Torrance.

Rent or buy The Shining on Amazon.
Buy The Shining on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Popeye (1980)

The adventures of a sailor (played by Robin Williams) with a corncob-pipe and unusually large forearms and his romance with his landlord’s daughter (played by Duvall) in the port town of Sweethaven.

Why it is one of the best Shelley Duvall movies: Duvall would reunite with Robert Altman to play the iconic Olive Oyl in Popeye — the filmmaker’s stunningly faithful live-action adaptation of E.C. Segar’s classic comic strip and subsequent cartoon, which was not very well received upon release, but, according to WBUR, has been revisited with more admirable eyes as an influential classic.

Stream Popeye on Pluto TV.
Rent or buy Popeye on Amazon.
Buy Popeye on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Time Bandits (1981)

A young boy embarks on an adventure with a group of thieves who venture through multiple eras of history searching for loot to snatch.

Why it is one of the best Shelley Duvall movies: In Time Bandits — a hilarious sci-fi movie classic that could have only been made by the gentlemen behind Monty Python — Duvall takes on two different roles from different time periods, each of which are named Pansy and are in a relationship with a man named Vincent (Michael Palin).

Stream Time Bandits on Max.
Buy Time Bandits on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Frankenweenie (1984)

An intelligent boy (played by Barrett Oliver) accidentally causes trouble in his neighborhood when he manages to bring his beloved dog, Sparky, back from the dead.

Why it is one of the best Shelley Duvall movies: Duvall stars as Susan Frankenstein, the mother of the young hero of Frankenweenie — the 29-minute horror-comedy movie favorite from co-writer and director Tim Burton, who would later expand it into an animated feature in 2012.

Stream Frankenweenie on Disney+.
Buy Frankenweenie on Amazon.

Roxanne (1987)

A fire chief with a large nose (played by Steve Martin) helps his handsome colleague (played by Rick Rossovich) win the heart of a beautiful woman (played by Darryl Hannah) while concealing his own feelings for her.

Why it is one of the best Shelley Duvall movies: One of the best Steve Martin movies, Roxanne — a modern retelling of Edmond Rostand’s play, Cyrano de Bergerac — also stars Duvall as a friend of C.D. Bales’ named Dixie, through whom he meets the title character.

Rent or buy Roxanne on Amazon.
Buy Roxanne on Blu-ray on Amazon.

Shelley Duvall won our hearts with her wonderful performances in these films. She will be dearly missed.

Do you like Tim Burton? Because I do – and apparently so do these actors. 

It's common for an actor who enjoys working with a particular director to frequently collaborate with them on movies. I could name a ton off the top of my head that I have seen appear in multiple films. There have been plenty of actors who have been in many Christopher Nolan movies. Others have appeared frequently in Wes Anderson films. Today, we will talk about the actors who have appeared in the most Tim Burton movies. 

I'll be upfront and say that most of these actors are from movies I saw as a child and grew to love even more over time, so their characters are some of my favorites ever. There are so many that I could point out that I truly loved so much, from Lydia in Beetlejuice to Johnny Depp’s starring role in Edward Scissohands and so much more. 

When I saw just how often they collaborated with Tim Burton, I was surprised. Here are the actors who've been in the most Tim Burton movies. 

Johnny Depp – 8 Movies 

First up on this list is, unsurprisingly, Johnny Depp. Out of everyone, Depp has appeared in the most films, with eight on his resume.

His movies include Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (which I just rewatched for the first time in years), Corpse Bride, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Alice in Wonderland and Dark Shadows. 

Many of these characters have become synonymous with Depp's name, especially the titular character of Edward Scissorhands and the candy mogul from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Both of which hold a significant place in my heart. 

Helena Bonham Carter – 7 Movies

Helena Bonham Carter is only one movie behind Depp in her appearances in Tim Burton films, with seven to her name. Hers include Planet of the Apes, Big Fish, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Alice in Wonderland, and Dark Shadows. She was also a part of the Charlie and Chocolate Factory cast and was one of the leads of the excellent stop-motion movie Corpse Bride. 

Carter was married to Tim Burton for several years, which might explain her frequent collaboration with the director. I will never forget her as the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland. It's genuinely one of the best fun adaptations out there. 

Christopher Lee – 5 Movies 

Next up on this list is Christopher Lee, who has appeared in five Tim Burton movies. These include Sleepy Hollow, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Corpse Bride, Alice in Wonderland, and Dark Shadows. 

Unfortunately, Lee passed away in 2015, so we won't see him in any future projects of Burton's, but he truly stood out in those roles. 

Michael Keaton – 5 Movies

Keaton is another big name from Tim Burton's movies, and he's appeared in four so far, with one planned for the future. Keaton is primarily known for his role as the titular character of Beetlejuice, a film that I honestly can't believe I was allowed to watch as a child. 

Besides that, Keaton appeared in three other films, including Dumbo, Batman and Batman Returns. His fifth Burton film will be Beetlejuice 2, where he is reprising the same role.

Michael Gough – 5 Movies

Next up on this list is Michael Gough, who has also appeared in five movies that Tim Burton has directed. These include Batman, Batman Returns, Sleepy Hollow, Corpse Bride and Alice in Wonderland. 

His best-known role from these movies is likely Alfred Pennyworth in the Batman films. Michael Gough passed away in March 2011, but his parts were always the best. I doubt I'm alone thinking no one can quite beat his Alfred. 

Lisa Marie – 4 Movies

So now we move onto the part of the list where these following four actors have all been in four movies (or will appear in an upcoming film). 

The first is Lisa Marie, who has appeared in four Tim Burton films. These include Ed Wood, Mars Attacks!, Sleepy Hollow and Planet of the Apes, all released one year after another. Marie was also a partner of Burton's for a time, which could explain why she frequently collaborated with the director. Her most known role from Burton's films is most likely portraying Lady Crane in Sleepy Hollow.

Danny DeVito – 4 Movies 

Danny DeVito has been in four Tim Burton films. Most people probably know the actor from his time portraying The Penguin in Batman Returns, but DeVito was also in the movies Mars Attacks!, Big Fish and Dumbo. 

DeVito feels like the perfect pick for a Tim Burton movie because not only does the actor have plenty to watch if you like him, but he has played some weird characters too, which is perfect for Burton's aesthetic. Just watch him in It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia – you won't be able to view DeVito the same ever again after seeing him as the native Philadelphian Frank Reynolds. 

Deep Roy – 4 Movies

Moving on, we look at Deep Roy, who also appeared in four movies of Burton's. These include Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Planet of the Apes, Big Fish and Corpse Bride. 

You probably remember Roy the most for his portrayal of the Oompa Loompas in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which no one would ever forget. The actor was a great addition to that strange, but entertaining movie. 

Winona Ryder – 4 Movies

Last, but most certainly not least, we have Winona Ryder. One of Ryder's first big films was Beetlejuice, a movie that shot her into stardom for portraying Lydia. Not long after that, she went on to co-star with Depp in Edward Scissorhands, a film that led to those two co-stars dating later on. 

Ryder also held a voice role in Frankenweenie, another stop-motion movie directed by Burton. She's next set to appear in Beetlejuice 2 as her fourth Burton collaboration, where she will reprise her iconic role as Lydia – and Jenna Ortega is going to play her daughter.

With so many talented actors and actresses, it's not surprising that they have appeared in all these Tim Burton movies – and honestly, it just makes me want to go and binge of all of these. Wish me luck!

Today, Disney is the biggest media company in the world, and it works with some of the biggest names in the industry. Many filmmakers continue to work with the company again and again, showing that apparently love making movies for the Mouse House, but one director who has had a much more strained relationship with the studio is Tim Burton.

Burton has one of the longest relationships with Disney, having gotten to work for Walt Disney Animation Studios after graduating from CalArts. He worked on movies like The Fox and the Hound and the ill-fated The Black Cauldron, but Burton was a somewhat different sort even then. He recently spoke with the Independent about his time with Disney, discussing a story about a time he wandered around the studio with bleeding gums after dental surgery, pretending to be a vampire, and says that’s when he should have known his relationship with Disney was troubled. Burton said…

Burton seems to have something of a love/hate relationship with his hometown of Burbank and feels the same way about Disney. Considering the sort of projects that Burton would go on to make after leaving Disney, from Pee Wee’s Big Adventure to Edward Scissorhands, it’s hard to imagine him working on Disney’s animated Renaissance, which is likely what he would have been doing had he stayed. His tastes clearly went in a very different direction than singing cartoon princesses. 

At the same time, while Burton didn’t always get on at Disney, he was always willing to return under the right circumstances. The Nightmare Before Christmas was produced at Disney and has become a big part of the company, having taken over DIsneyland's Haunted Mansion for more than 20 years. In 2012, he turned Frankenweenie, an animated short he’d made at Disney in 1984, into a feature-length film. Most recently, he directed the live-action adaptation of Dumbo. 

Tim Burton says he probably won't work with Disney again, but that doesn't mean he doesn't appreciate the work he's done there or what it has meant to him. He accepts that those experiences have shaped him as a filmmaker, for better or worse. Certainly, both Disney and Tim Burton have changed a lot in the last several decades so it's no surprise they have grown apart. 

Halloween is almost here, and we all tend to see our tastes in film shift a bit toward horror movies. While there are some great horror movies one can enjoy this time of year, in most cases that means truly terrifying movies potentially full of incredibly mature violence. But even horror movies that aren't necessarily terrifying aren't always suitable for everybody. What about those people, of all ages, who don’t mind movies that are a little bit spooky, but need the terror down to a manageable level? The good news is there are some options on Disney+ for Halloween movies that are not too scary.

If you’re looking for a good Halloween movie that has the ability to give you some legitimate chills, but is still suited for the whole family, there are a few great options you can find if you have a Disney+ subscription.

Hocus Pocus (And Hocus Pocus 2) 

Hocus Pocus is a movie that is remembered quite fondly by the generation that grew up with it, and certainly the movie, on balance, is more silly than scary. However, the original Hocus Pocus does have a scene where the three witches are hung by their necks, which, while it certainly isn’t graphic, still shows three bodies hanging off the ground, making the death scene more clear than you might expect from a Disney movie. It’s also about child murder, after all.

Hocus Pocus 2 is probably a bit less terrifying for even the youngest viewers, but it’s still the perfect sort of movie for a family of all ages to enjoy on Halloween together. It has a great spooky vibe going if you want something that feels dark without being all that scary. 

 The Nightmare Before Christmas 

The Nightmare Before Christmas has become an absolute classic over the years, not only as a Halloween movie, but as a Christmas movie too. There's even something of a debate as to whether Nightmare is ultimately a Christmas movie or a Halloween movie. While the film is able to be both things surprisingly well, I would argue that it is primarily a Halloween movie because a lot of the imagery can get quite creepy, even in the more Christmas-focused scenes.

The younger the audience, the scarier The Nightmare Before Christmas can be. The opening musical number alone just throws every manor of scary creature at you one after the other. Oogie Boogie, a walking burlap sack full of all sorts of creepy, crawly things that could easily freak out young viewers. The stop motion animation itself lends itself to a general feeling of unease, as nothing moves quite right. 

The Haunted Mansion 

Disney’s first attempt at a movie based on the Haunted Mansion attraction went so well that Disney is now making a new Haunted Mansion movie in an attempt to help people forget the first one ever existed. The attraction itself, while it has its moments, is not particularly scary. The movie based on it is certainly more of a comedy than horror, but the Haunted Mansion movie isn’t as bad as a lot of people think, and it does have some shining moments as well.

One sequence in the middle of the film sees Eddie Murphy and his daughter stuck in a crypt while numerous corpses come to life, all while the daughter nearly drowns. It's a sequence that would fit almost perfectly in any more more mature horror movie. It has kids screaming in terror, and there’s a decent chance that really young kids might also scream in terror.

Frankenweenie 

Frankenstein is one of the all-time great horror stories that has been adapted so many times in so many ways that it’s near impossible to keep track of them all. Frankenweenie is certainly on the lighter side of the various adaptations but whether you watch Disney's live-action short or the feature length stop motion film, both of which can be found on Disney+, both movies are still distinctly Tim Burton, and therefore distinctly creepy.

There’s something inherently scary about that classic black and white film look, so even the parts of Frankenweenie that aren’t scary on their own feel like they could go that way at any moment. While the title character of the dog that comes back to life is probably the least scary creature in the film, that’s because there’s plenty more to freak you out.

The Adventures Of Icabod & Mr. Toad 

Ok, so this one cheats a tiny bit as technically only half of the movie qualifies for this Halloween theme, but it does it so well we can’t leave it out. The Adventures of Icabod and Mr. Toad comes from the era of Disney Animation when the studio was focusing on packaging shorter animation segments together to build feature films. This one includes an adaption of The Wind in the Willows, which is good, but the Disneyland ride based on it is actually scarier that the film.

The other half, however, is an adaptation of Washington Irvin’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and it’s actually quite scary. While there are some humorous elements to balance the scares, the Headless Horseman is one of Disney's scariest villains, and the story has a pretty chilling ending, about as far from a traditional Disney happy ending as you could possibly imagine.

Every horror fan has to start someplace, and most probably didn’t find a love for slasher movies out of nowhere. These are the sorts of films that kids watch and discover they actually like the scary parts, leading to them eventually looking for more. 

Disney+ has made it a lot easier for you to revisit some great movies, which is one of the main allures of having so many streaming services available. We know how tempting it is to watch Tangled for the 400th time, but it’s time to watch something new. It is time for you to broaden your Disney+ horizon. The streaming platform contains plenty of underrated movies, like Big Hero 6. These underrated movies have been neglected for too long. It is time for them to go on your what to watch on Disney+ playlist.

My definition of underrated are movies that are enjoyable but maybe received harsh reviews or poor box office results, or only have a cult following or just are not discussed among the great films of their genre. One reason or another these movies haven’t been anointed in the great movies hall of fame.

Big Hero 6

In Big Hero 6, Hiro (Ryan Potter) is a boy genius who builds microbots to gain entry into the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology. After tragedy strikes, Hiro teams up with his brother’s robot health companion Baymax (Scott Adsit) and they hunt for a dangerous masked man who now has Hiro’s microbots. Hiro upgrades Baymax’s software and teams up with his friends to form a new super group.

Why It’s underrated: Big Hero 6 is a really good animated film, both in terms of plot and animation, and it’s a very entertaining Marvel Comics adaptation. Hiro and his friend’s quest feels very similar to many of the Marvel Cinematic Universe origin stories. Despite Big Hero 6 being an easy film to place in the world of Marvel and Disney, it just doesn’t receive as much attention from either fandom.

Stream it on Disney+ here.

Hercules

Disney’s Hercules follows young Hercules (Tate Donovan) as he discovers that he’s half-man and half-god. He then needs to take a hero’s journey to prove himself worthy of living among the gods. Hercules voice cast includes James Woods, Susan Egan, Danny DeVito, Rip Torn, and Bobcat Goldthwait.

Why It’s underrated: When people mention the best Disney animated films, they’ll mention Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Little Mermaid, and many more, but Hercules is rarely mentioned. It’s almost like Disney fans forgot this brilliant movie. Hands down Hercules has one of the best Disney soundtracks and it’s nearly criminal that more people aren’t still singing “Go the Distance,” “The Gospel Truth,” and “I Won’t Say (I’m in Love).”

Stream it on Disney+ here.

Thumbelina

Thumbelina, based on Hans Christian Andersen’s book of the same name, follows a tiny girl named Thumbelina (Jodi Benson) and the Prince of the fairies Cornelius (Gary Imhoff) as they try to find their way back to each other. Thumbelina’s voice cast includes Gilbert Gottfried, Carol Channing, John Hurt, and Charo.

Why It’s underrated: Many of you reading this probably went “what the heck is Thumbelina?” And there lies the issue, Thumbelina doesn’t receive nearly as much attention as other animated films created in the 90s. This is probably due to the bad reviews, box office failure, and not the best soundtrack. Also Thumbelina is very bizarre in comparison to Cinderella, but if you can accept the strangeness, then Thumbelina is one enjoyable ride from start to finish. Personally, it’s one of those movies I’ve seen far too many times and still enjoy its ridiculous plot.

Stream it on Disney+ here.

A Goofy Movie

Worried about his son Max (Jason Marsden)’s future, Goofy (Bill Farmer) plans an impromptu road trip and fishing trip for them. This ruins Max’s plans to get close to his crush Roxanne (Kellie Martin), so he lies about being friends with singer Powerline (Tevin Campbell) and taking this trip to perform with him.

Why it’s underrated: Besides a cult following, A Goofy Movie is basically ignored by the world of Disney animation fans. Maybe fans seem to forget about this movie because Goofy is seen as more of Mickey’s silly sidekick than a charismatic character. It is unfortunate that The Goofy Movie is not more popular because the plot is relatable, heartwarming, and the music is top notch. It is pop music at its finest.

Stream it on Disney+ here.

Frankenweenie

Tim Burton adds his own signature style to this remake of a 1984 short film. Frankenweenie, a homage to Mary Shelley’s classic Frankenstein, follows young Victor Frankenstein (Charlie Tahan) as he reanimates his dog Sparky (Frank Welker). The Frankenweenie voice cast includes Martin Short, Catherine O’Hara, and Winona Ryder.

Why it’s underrated: Tim Burton clearly uses influence from his other films, like Edward Scissorhands and The Nightmare Before Christmas, when developing Frankenweenie. This is definitely not Burton’s best film, but it should be more in the conversation when discussing his great movies. His style and themes aren’t necessarily family friendly, but the fact that he was able to turn the story of Frankenstein into a family friendly film is a great accomplishment. It’s probably still a little too complex and dark for young kids, but it works for older children and families.

Stream it on Disney+ here.

Togo

Togo follows Leonhard Seppala (Willem Dafoe) and his sled team led by Togo as they try to complete the 1925 serum run to Nome. They face dangerous winter conditions to try to save lives. They need to get this serum to Nome in order to help stop an epidemic

Why it’s underrated: Possibly because Disney+ is still so new, people haven’t discovered the truly great original content on the service. This movie is one of them and very worth watching. Togo pulls you in as both an action adventure film and as a story of a spirited dog who forms an unbreakable bond with his human and animal family.

Stream it on Disney+ here.

A Bug’s Life

Flick (Dave Foley) doesn’t quite fit in with his ant colony, but when dangerous grasshoppers threaten its survival, Flick is the only hope to save it. In A Bug’s Life, he must gather a motley crue of bugs to try to save his people. The voice over cast includes Kevin Spacey, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Hayden Panettiere.

Why it’s underrated: A Bug’s Life may have suffered from not being Pixar’s first film because it completely got overshadowed by Toy Story and then movies after it like Monster’s Inc. and more recent films like Coco.The film had the winning Pixar formula (great animation, interesting characters, a compelling storyline, etc.) to become another hit franchise, but somehow, it just didn’t.

Stream it on Disney+ here.

Life With Mikey

In Life with Mikey, Michael J. Fox plays a former child star who becomes a talent agent. Mikey (Michael J. Fox) hasn’t quite grown up and relies heavily on his former glory to get by, but one day, he meets a young pick-pocket named Angie (Christina Vidal). He sees acting potential in her and becomes her mentor. They both end up helping each other and forming a family that they both need. Nathan Lane and Cyndi Lauper also appear in Life with Mikey.

Why it’s underrated: During Life with Mikey’s 1993 release, critics didn't love it. It also wasn’t much of a hit with the general public. However, I don’t quite get why, because Life with Mikey is a fun, endearing movie that’s a coming of age story for both Angie and Mikey. This movie isn’t going to change the world, but it’s a cute story, and sometimes that’s all you want out of a film.

Stream it on Disney+ here.

Meet The Robinsons

Meet the Robinsons follows 12-year old orphan Lewis (Jordan Fry) who sets out to invent a memory-grabbing machine to learn more about his birth mother. While presenting at the school’s science fair, a mysterious man with a bowler hat (Steven Anderson) sabotages his project. Then Wilbur Robinson (Wesley Singerman), a kid claiming to be from the future, brings Lewis along for the adventure of his life.

Why it’s underrated: I would bet that a lot of people have never even heard of Meet the Robinsons. It’s a rare Disney animated film that happened to slip under the radar, which is a shame because this is actually a really good animated movie. Meet the Robinsons has an unexpected but very intriguing plot and a whole bunch of wacky characters. If you haven’t seen this movie yet, it’s time for you to meet this unique futuristic family.

Stream it on Disney+ here.

Sister Act 2: Back In The Habit

Whoopi Goldberg returns to fake nun life in Sister Act 2, the sequel to the hit original. Deloris (Whoopi Goldberg) rejoins her former nun sisters to help a school from being closed. She must help a group of misfits’ students find their voice. Sister Act 2’s cast includes Kathy Najimy, Maggie Smith, and Lauryn Hill.

Why it’s underrated: Sister Act 2 was nowhere near as popular as the first film It grossed less money and received harsh reviews. Sister Act 2 may not be as good as the first one, but this one has just as many memorable musical moments, mainly due to the cast of talented young singers led by Lauryn Hill.

Stream it on Disney+ here.

Tuck Everlasting

Tuck Everlasting is a romantic drama between 15-year-old Winnie (Alexis Bledel) and Jesse Tuck (Jonathan Jackson), a boy who can’t age. It’s the story of the burden of immortality and first love. Tuck Everlasting’s cast includes Ben Kingsley, Sissy Spacek, Victor Garber, and William Hurt.

Why it’s underrated: Tuck Everlasting is a sweet romance story that seems to have gotten overshadowed by a lot more flashier and beloved tales of young love, like A Walk to Remember and Bend it Like Beckham. Tuck Everlasting fairy-tale-esque quality and chemistry between Alexis Bledel and Jonathan Jackson should fulfill your need for yearning and doomed first love.

Stream it on Disney+ here.

Oliver & Company

Oliver & Company is Disney’s twist on the Charles Dickens classic Oliver Twist. An orphaned kitten named Oliver (Joey Lawrence) meets a group of dogs, led by Dodger (Billy Joel) who teaches him his streetwise ways. One day Oliver meets Jenny (Natalie Gregory) who wants to adopt him, forcing Oliver to choose between the new family he’s made and a potential one. Oliver & Company’s cast includes Bette Midler, Richard Mulligan, and Sheryl Lee Ralph.

Why it’s underrated: Oliver & Company did very well at the box office, but it is another filmed with mixed reviews. Despite the strong box office numbers, the film isn’t mentioned as much as other films released by Disney in the 80s and 90s, which is a shame because it has a great voice cast and it’s another animated movie with a very catchy, fun, and memorable soundtrack.

Stream it on Disney+ here.

Try these movies, you might like them or passionately hate them, but it never hurts to try something new, especially if it’s already part of a streaming service that you pay for.

Since making his feature directorial debut in the mid-1980s, director Tim Burton has established himself, without question, as one of the most strikingly different filmmakers in Hollywood. In the last 31 years, he has established a style that is recognized around the world, from his use of Danny Elfman's music to an often large abundance of spirals and stripes. He has delivered audiences breathtaking original visions... and also a couple of stinkers. Today we are here to talk about them all.

With the arrival of Tim Burton's 18th film, Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children, in theaters this weekend, we figured now would be the perfect time to present our ranking of all of the filmmaker's feature films to date. Read on to find out which titles we gave the top spots.

18. Dark Shadows

Tim Burton has gotten his groove back in recent years, but 2012's Dark Shadows definitely represents his worst work. Everything about it feels either lazy or forced, and it comes together as a slog that's feels interminable even while coming in under two hours long.

17. Alice in Wonderland

If you need any proof that success doesn't equal quality, 2010's Alice in Wonderland makes great evidence. The film is far and away Tim Burton's biggest box office hit -- accumulating over $1 billion worldwide -- but that fact will never overshadow the fact that the movie is a headache-inducing, bright and colorful mess.

16. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Mel Stuart's Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is a timeless children's classic that has nothing stopping it from continuing to be passed down from generation to generation. As such, Tim Burton's 2005 remake, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, was wholly unnecessary from the start, and failed to stick the landing. It's true that the adaptation is a more faithful version of Roald Dahl's brilliant book in some respects, but it still can never shake its lack of raison d'etre.

15. Planet of the Apes

For what it's worth, Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes remake from 2001 does earn a lot of points for its truly stunning makeup and prosthetics work -- courtesy of Rick Baker -- but it does stand as further evidence that the filmmaker just needs to stay away from remakes. Good as Mark Wahlberg can be, this definitely isn't his finest hour, and nothing is helped by the movie's manipulation of the original's classic ending.

14. Corpse Bride

Tim Burton's name carried weight in the stop-motion field for years thanks to his association with both The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach - but his first attempt at actually directing one of the animated films didn't exactly have the greatest results. Corpse Bride is okay -- featuring some tremendous animation and fun Danny Elfman songs - but there's not much to it. Thankfully, it wouldn't be his last time in the medium.

13. Sleepy Hollow

Filmmakers have been adapting the legend of Sleepy Hollow since the late 19th century (no joke), and in the context of that history, Tim Burton's version is... fine. Of the eight Burton/Johnny Depp collaborations, it sits as fourth best, which is entirely appropriate. It probably won't ever be considered the definitive big screen version of the tale, but it certainly has a nice collection of scares and compelling atmosphere.

12. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Tim Burton would have been better off finding a lead with a better voice than Johnny Depp for his feature version of the musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street - but the movie basically works because it does a good job keeping to the source material. The director makes full use of the R-rating, constructing some gruesome horror bits in the process, and there's even a solid romance put together as well.

11. Big Eyes

The style of Tim Burton is distinctive to the point that you know it as soon as you see it, but 2014's Big Eyes represents the director at his most restrained. Dialing his bolder eccentricities down in favor of telling the story of another artist with equally instantly recognizable style, the result is a tight drama featuring some really fantastic turns from both Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz.

10. Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children

We don't yet have time to provide larger context for Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children in the larger span of Burton's work, but right now we're fully confident placing the latest work from the director in the Top 10. Part X-Men, part Harry Potter, and just a dash of Charles Dickens, the film is a legitimately fun adventure that blends a fun fantasy adventure with interesting and emotional commentary on inter-generational relationships (something we've seen in Burton's previous work, and something we'll get into much more later). Based on the book of the same name by Ransom Riggs, the material falls right into Burton's wheelhouse, and he does a fantastic job with it.

9. Frankenweenie

Remember what we were saying earlier about Tim Burton not giving up on stop-motion after Corpse Bride? Well, that wound up paying off in a big way in 2012 with Frankenweenie. The movie was released while we were still trying to get the bad taste of Dark Shadows out of our mouths, but the animated adventure earned the filmmaker a lot of points back towards his legacy. The film is in every way the director returning to his roots - not only being animated, but being a feature-length adaptation of one of his earliest shorts -- and it's legitimately a wonderful, purely-Burton tale of a boy and his dog.

8. Pee-wee's Big Adventure

In the directing of his first feature, Tim Burton hitched his star to Paul Reuben's Pee-wee Herman, and the results are just truly wonderful. Admittedly the titular character in Pee-wee's Big Adventure is a love him or hate him pop culture figure, but for those who enjoy the grown up toddler's antics, his search for his stolen bicycle is pure delight. Burton certainly got the chance to hone is artistic weirdness with the film, and its ultimate success is what led the filmmaker to get the opportunities to make the movies he really wanted to make (most of which are still to come in this ranking).

7. Batman Returns

While superhero franchises are all the rage today, sequels in the genre were troublesome back in the late 20th century -- but this is one that legitimately works. Building on the success of the first film (which we'll get to in a minute), Batman Returns is a film that time and perspective has done a lot of favors. Both Danny DeVito's Penguin and Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman are legitimately iconic big screen visions of the famed Dark Knight foes, and while the movie is not exactly the comics come to life, it is justifiably Burton's vision of Batman, and it's pretty damn entertaining.

6. Batman

People have loved Batman for decades, but Tim Burton's 1989 film created a true phenomenon surrounding the character. The blockbuster was insanely hyped leading up to its release, and it not only successfully lived up to audience expectations, but it helped transform the way that pop culture perceived the hero. It's true that a confusing amount of screentime is dedicated to Jack Nicholson's Joker over Michael Keaton's Batman/Bruce Wayne, and by modern standards its action is extremely low-key (not to mention occasionally silly), but there's no denying its incredible entertainment value and greater influence on the world of comic book movies.

5. Mars Attacks!

Inspired by the technological revolution byproduct of the Cold War as well as growing talks of rockets in space, science-fiction from the 1950s is a special and unique portion of film history that has inspired the minds of many great filmmakers. This is a list that includes Tim Burton amongst George Lucas, James Cameron, and Steven Spielberg -- and it was specifically that love that inspired Mars Attacks!: a film that ultimately works because of the legitimate passion for the material.

A loving satire that is sometimes as stupid as it is funny, the movie boasts one of the best ensembles that Tim Burton has ever put together -- featuring Jack Nicholson, Michael J. Fox, Sarah Jessica Parker, Glenn Close, Annette Bening, Martin Short, and Tom Jones amongst many other -- and perfectly plays on the best 1950s sci-fi tropes. And if you're looking for an extra bit of fun with the film, try giving it a watch with the color on your TV dropped down and the contrast turned way up. You may wind up missing the glowing red and green skeletons a bit, but it just feels like the more natural presentation for the material. Give it a try and thank me later.

4. Edward Scissorhands

Much like Frankenweenie, Edward Scissorhands is a movie that has very deep roots for Tim Burton. The titular character was born in the mind of the director when he was a teenager growing up in Burbank, California, and expanded into a screenplay by Caroline Thompson the result is one of Burton's most aesthetically beautiful and exquisitely original works.

The mere image of Johnny Depp as Edward Scissorhands is an illustration of Tim Burton's iconic aesthetic -- fully of pointy lines and deep curls -- and nowhere else is his peculiar interest in suburbia better explored and utilized. It's an unapologetically odd film that wears every ounce of its weirdness on its sleeve, but also doesn't let it detract from its incredible heart. Furthermore, Edward Scissorhands was the first time that Burton worked with Johnny Depp, and that collaboration wound up changing the shape of the director's career -- occasionally for the worst, but primarily for the better.

3. Beetlejuice

Beetlejuice is a special film. Driven by the creative mind of a director with a particular fascination with death, it's a tremendously vibrant and imaginative adventure that builds its own universe filled with off-kilter design and characters.

Michael Keaton's performance as the titular Ghost With The Most is the true draw, with the actor putting in a wonderfully disgusting yet captivatingly charismatic turn -- and it stands out because we've truly never seen anything like it before. Really, though, everything about Beetlejuice is memorable and brilliant: from the trip through the afterlife's waiting room, to the "Banana Boat" singalong at the dinner table, to the graveyard introduction of the black-and-white-striped villain. It says everything that this was the film that Tim Burton decided he wanted to make after the great success of Pee-wee's Big Adventure, and it's the first movie you point to in the discussion of the auteur's style. It's bold, scary, funny, original, and really a movie for absolutely everybody.

2. Big Fish

In case you haven't noticed the theme yet, Tim Burton is truly at his best when his heart and soul is entirely in a project, and it speaks to him on a certain personal level. With the 2004 father-son reconciliation drama Big Fish, it was a case where Tim Burton was dealing with the loss of both of his parents, who died in 2000 and 2002, respectively -- and found that the John August script very much reflected his relationship with them. It comes through absolutely, as it's unequivocally Burton's most emotional film.

Given the mold of the Southern Gothic aesthetic and the freedom that comes with blending fantasy and reality, Big Fish is arguably Tim Burton's most vibrantly beautiful film -- with images of a flower-filled meadow on a bright blue day, a town illuminated with string lights, and a man making peace with his father on his deathbed forever seared in the memory of the any movie-goer. It was an epic rebound after the unfortunate Planet of the Apes, and is his most recent truly brilliant film.

1. Ed Wood

Edward Davis Wood, Jr. was not a talented filmmaker, but there is nobody on Earth that could say that he wasn't an utterly fascinating human being. The power of his drive and passion alone makes his story notable... but then there was his crossdressing, his deep love of angora sweaters, and, again, the fact that he was an utterly terrible filmmaker.

In his 1994 film Ed Wood, Tim Burton shared the world of the Plan 9 From Outer Space director with audiences, and it's not only Burton's greatest work, but one of the greatest biopics of all time. Stranger than fiction doesn't begin to cover the tale of its central figure, but the movie succeeds both because it's laugh-out-loud hilarious and because it's downright inspiring. During his filmmaking career, Ed Wood was told dozens if not hundreds of times that he was completely incompetent, but he was a man with a dream, and would do absolutely anything to achieve it -- motivation off the charts. Brought to life with a brilliant ensemble including Johnny Depp, Martin Landau (who won the Oscar for his performance), Sarah Jessica Parker, Bill Murray, Patricia Arquette and Lisa Marie, it's Burton's true masterpiece and a perfect film.

Tim Burton’s a busy man, constantly taking the director’s chair with some endeavors, as well as producing others. 2012 has been a busy year for the 54-year-old. Not only did he direct the live-action flick Dark Shadows, but he also finally finished the stop motion remake of his short film Frankenweenie. The film did decently at the box office, but if you did miss it, Disney is bringing Frankenweenie to 3D Blu-ray, Blu-ray, DVD, and digital download on January 8, 2013.

The film follows a young scientist whose interest in bringing back the dead is sparked after his dog is killed in an accident. In a parody of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the stop motion animation adventure is full of friendship and adventure, and for fans who enjoyed it or just want to check it out, Disney is putting together plenty of different sets for audiences to choose from.

The 3D Blu-ray will be the most impressive set, coming with a 3D copy of the movie, a Blu-ray, a DVD, and a digital copy. A regular Blu-ray set will also be available, as well as a DVD copy. Extras range from a lot to a couple, depending on which set you opt to go with. The good news is, if you are only meh on the movie, you can spend less, and if you really enjoy the flick you can get a set that will look a little more impressive on your shelf as part of your collection. You can check out the full list of extras, below.

4-Disc Blu-ray Combo Pack Extras

• Original Short: “Captain Sparky vs. The Flying Saucers”
• “Miniatures In Motion: Bringing ‘Frankenweenie To Life”
• “Frankenweenie” touring exhibit
• “Frankenweenie” 1984 short
• “Pet Sematary” Plain White T’s music video

2-Disc Blu-ray Combo Pack Extras

• “Captain Sparky vs. The Flying Saucers”
• “Miniatures In Motion: Bringing ‘Frankenweenie’ To Life”
• “Frankenweenie” Touring Exhibit
• “Frankenweenie” (original Live-Action Short)
• “Pet Sematary” Plain White T’s music video

1-Disc DVD Extras

• “Frankenweenie” Touring Exhibit
• “Pet Sematary” Music Video performed by Plain White T’s

For just about the entire length of Tim Burton’s career his work has shown a close association with death. With Frankenweenie in theaters this Friday he’s made two stop motion movies about people coming back from the dead. He directed two superhero movies where the lead character was motivated by the death of his parents. Sweeney Todd is about a barber who cuts people down, and Beetlejuice follows events in the afterlife. But what does Burton have to say about connections between his work and his suggested death impulse? In his words, “They’ve been killing animals for years.”

The weekend before last I had the pleasure of driving down to Disneyland where I, along with my friend Roth Cornet of Screen Rant, were given the opportunity to sit down with the Oscar-nominated filmmaker and discuss both his latest movie and his career. Check out or conversation below in which Burton talks about what made now the right time to resurrect Frankenweenie, the suggested death impulse in his work, and the value of limitations and how they’ve affected his career.

We were just saying that there is a purity and clarity in the stop motion animation, and overall aesthetic to the film, that reflects the purity and clarity in the love between a boy and his dog.

Yes, that’s what made it feel different than the short - which I loved doing and it was great to do live-action - but what I always loved about the drawings and what you can do in stop motion is that there is purity to the emotion. The black and white also added to that for me. If the studio had said to me, “Well, you can do the movie but only in color” I wouldn’t have done it because it was that important to me to impart that emotional stripping away of things so that you get that simplicity and the strength of what it’s about.

You originally intended to tell the story in stop motion, is that correct?

Well, not necessarily. My recollection of it now was that it was designed to go out with another film. Back in the old days when Disney was releasing an animated film they would do these live-action nature kinds of shorts. You know the crazy cougar comes to town or whatever. So that was what it was originally sort of designed to be. And I was happy to do it, and enjoyed doing it, but they quickly became freaked out about releasing it. Whatever, this happens.

What made now the right time to bring it back?

Well I wasn’t thinking "Okay, now is the time." It has to do with a few different things. Obviously when I did it way back then it did its thing and I went on and did other things. But it was such a memory piece for me in the sense that it was based on real emotions and real feelings and a love of certain kinds of movies and growing up in an environment. I started going back and thinking about other elements from that time in terms of like Burbank where I grew up. I mean we shot the original short in Pasadena, which is a slightly different vibe from Burbank, and also remembering certain types of kids in school and certain politics and certain weird teachers. So there were a lot more elements than the love of those classic monster movies.

Also, if the original was the structure of Frankenstein then this was the structure of some of those later movies like The House of Frankenstein or Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein where they put more monsters in there. So that made it feel more of a natural expansion of an idea rather than taking a short and trying to pad it out. It’s like being able to have everything be from a real kind of place, the same kind of baseball field, the same kind of auditorium, the same kind of PE teacher and kids and all that. So that made it feel like a real package. Plus it takes time to get the right kind of team together. When we’re working on an animated film for some reason it feels like we always have to start from scratch again because people go off and work for Pixar and wherever else and it’s such a rarefied form of animation that it takes quite a bit of time to put your team together.

It seems that, in looking at your work, many people have the idea that you have an interest in death, or the death impulse or darker elements. But I see such a life force in your work.

Well thank you. That’s what always shocked me about people. I always find that kids can take quite a lot and that they’re quite intelligent. And I find that adults, as they get older, kind of forget what it’s like. Even with Disney movies. They think they’re all light and airy-fairy and yet from Snow White on, The Lion King and everything, death is very present. They’ve been killing animals for years.

They’ve been shooting them in the woods for years.

Yeah, I mean Old Yeller.

Bambi.

Yeah, and that’s the whole point. I mean that’s why I always get a bit frustrated by that idea. Because I’ve had that my whole life, and the fact is that in my mind this is like a classic Disney movie structure. It’s not like going to new levels of darkness. In fact I find it quite light. But you know I went through that with Nightmare Before Christmas. People said that it was going to be too scary for kids and then you’ve got three year olds coming up to you and singing the songs. I’m so sick of that. Even doing Batman it was like, “it’s too dark, it’s too dark” now it looks like a lighthearted romp. Jesus.

[Laughs] It’s so true. Yes and Grimm’s fairy tales were certainly not airy.

They’re so dark. Even as a kid I’m three years old and reading these stories and now even I forget how horrible they are. And hilariously horrible. But I find that the most fascinating dynamic with adults. It’s like, where have they gone in their mind? I mean don’t they remember any of this stuff? It was around when they were kids. So it’s not like it’s some new thing.

So what do you think it is? Do you think it’s your imaginative take and visual style?

I don’t know. I think they forget. I’m a parent now and you become a little bit more protective, I guess. And I can understand that, getting into protective mode or whatever. But at the same time I don’t know how you can forget that Snow White was scary and Pinocchio was scary. I was even watching 101 Dalmatians and it was like ‘boil em’, skin em’ beat em’ bash em’ em over the head, kill em!’ And I guarantee you now that if that line was in a Disney film they would freak out.

Our culture has become overprotective over the years. Do you think it has something to do with that?

Yeah, and at the same time it spins out of control in terms of violence and other things. They complain about movies but you read less about the effects of technology and Facebook and computers where you can sit endless hours of the day killing people in a video game. To me there are many more potentially culturally damaging things that people don’t talk about as much as they rag on movies - which are probably the safest form of entertainment you can get. I remember I watched movies like The Brain that Wouldn’t Die on a Saturday afternoon and the guy’s arm gets ripped off and he’s running his bloody stump down the wall. And I’m alright; I mean I’m still a functioning member of society to some degree.

Do you think it’s just that your films feel unfamiliar or new and that those fairy tales are more classic and known and so the familiarity makes people take the darker elements for granted?

Honestly I just find it fascinating. The best thing I could think is the protection thing. And fear. That’s why I like the idea of not getting so involved in technology. Instead of going online I’d like to just go look at the clouds for ten minutes and let your mind wander. Especially as an adult when you’re forced to be more responsible, and have a family. It does kind of take you away from your simple, emotional creative life. No matter what you do. It’s important for everybody to have at least a moment to just meditate or whatever you do to space out.

That definitely ties into the film as well, because you have the scene where all the parents are complaining about the teacher, about Mr. Rzykruski, and his “dangerous” methods. It’s progression.

Yeah, yeah. And also it’s like when people get all up in arms about something. The best way…and it’s something you try to tell your kids - you see your two kids fighting. Well why does it work? Because one has an effect on the other, and if you just let certain things go. It’s like the religious thing, when they start complaining about something and it just makes the other thing look better. It doesn’t actually do the purpose. If you actually just let things go and let issues… just keep it personal, don’t make such a big deal out of it because if you make a big deal out of it then you’re not necessarily achieving what you want to achieve with it. It’s kind of a stupid thing. I don’t know. I just find all that stuff shocking and amusing and scary at the same time [laughs].

It is interesting, because the film does deal with the ideal of misunderstandings based on superficially based judgments…

And it’s always been happening that way. Superficial judgments are the most boring, but they’ve been around since I was a child and they’re around today and, like I said, it seems to get stronger that way and everything else kind of spins out of control. So it is a weird dynamic for sure.

I wanted to ask you about your career also, because at the start of your career you were met with your fair share of rejection and we’re now two years removed from what is not only the biggest hit of your career in terms of box office numbers, but one of the few films to make more than a billion dollars internationally. I’m curious from your point of view, if the way you make films has changed as you’ve seen more success, and if you think there’s still value in limitations and people saying no.

Well, if you ask anybody if they have $200 million to make a film it’s not quite enough. If you have $1 million it’s not enough. Everyone from the full spectrum…because there are limitations and you’d be making a huge budget movie and still feel like you’re screwed, that you don’t have enough money. But I was lucky in a way because early on in my career I had a couple of successes, and I thought, “Ooh, this is going to be easier now. I can do whatever I want,” from Pee Wee to Beetlejuice to Batman and I thought, “Well, I’ve been lucky! So now I’m going to do Edward Scissorhands.” And it was like the hardest movie to get made, and it was lower budget. And it created its own weird dynamic because people thought all I did was create big Hollywood movies. I couldn’t get locations because they were too expensive and this and that because they thought you were doing a big Hollywood movie.

So I found that, actually, each project…and there have been projects even lately where I’ve worked for six months on it and they cancelled them. It does still happen and it actually made me feel more evened out to realize that you know what, each project…and I feel bad for people that think, that come up to me and they go, “You can do anything you want.” You can’t really, and that’s okay. You should have those kind of challenges and restrictions. That’s the nature of film and I think that that’s actually not a negative thing.

A slower Sunday for the Rotten Watch with only two flicks on the docket. This week we’ve got Liam Neeson running roughshod over the bad guys and Tim Burton bringing dogs back to life.

Just remember, I'm not reviewing these movies, but rather predicting where they'll end up on the Tomatometer. Let's take a look at what This Rotten Week has to offer.

Taken 2

My father, Papa Rotten Week, is a man of few words. The missives he does throw out there once in a blue moon are usually of the repetitive, I’ve said this a thousand times, theme. Some of his favorite include reminding me I was born in the hospital shown at the beginning of House, giving away endings of books, and reiterating the body count in the movie Taken. I don’t know what exactly got him fixated on this movie, or the death toll number, but one can’t mention Liam Neeson, preteen kidnapping or “sets of skills” without Pops chiming in on how many people died in that flick. It’s crazy. Getting old is nuts.

Now it’s all I can think about with this sequel, because even though the movie apparently sucks (8% after twelve reviews), it probably means I’ll never escape my dad counting up bodies left in Liam Neeson’s wake. And by the looks of the melodramatic and silly trailer, that number is significant.

Oliver “I Dare You To Have a Cooler Last Name” Megaton knows a thing or two about taking a dump all over the action movie cutting room floor. Dude’s given us Colombiana (27%) and Transporter 2 (36%), but my man may have outdone himself this time around. Megaton, along with “writers” Luc Besson (Lockout-37%) and Robert Mark Kamen (The Karate Kid-67%**) took the script for Taken down to the old photocopier, hit “3” (so they all had one to read and copy), went back to their offices, scribbled a change here and there (uzi instead of pistol, wife and daughter get snatched, Istanbul as a setting, etc) and handed that bad boy in. Boom, movie time.

**Jaden Smith’s version of Daniel Laruso, this flick was basically a copy of the original, just replacing Cali with China and switching up the race of the kid lead. Kamen makes his bones holding down Control+C, Control+V.

So what we are left with is Neeson killing his way through another (or the same) criminal organization to get back his family members. See? My dad’s not the only repetitive guy around. The Rotten Watch for Taken 2 is 13%

Five things that I hate:

Beers that mention “cranberry” anywhere on the bottle

When my American Wagyu is even a degree overcooked

Big, and small, and medium-sized government

Hemp

The title of this movie

Frankenweenie? What the f@#$? I have a distinct feeling that if anyone but Tim Burton walked into a movie studio and pitched this as the idea/ title for a movie, the cynical and condescending laughter alone would have closed the door on said director’s career for good.

But, alas it was Tim Burton, and recent not-so-successful work aside (Dark Shadows-38%, Alice in Wonderland-51%) dude’s got street cred. And once I hurdle some titular cognitive dissonance, I’m seeing a movie critics feel is a return to form for His Odd-ness. It’s a remake of live action short he made back in the 80’s using stop motion animation to tell the story of little Victor sparking his dog back to life Mary Shelley style.

Burton’s used stop-motion successfully before with Corpse Bride (84%) and Nightmare Before Christmas (96%-though he only wrote and produced, plus it was forever ago, but whatever, it’s a comp) and early reviews are trending well above positive. They aren’t all gaga (78% through eighteen reviews), but there’s enough Burton love here to feel it’ll sit well in the “Fresh” range. Man, if he had just picked a different title, this thing would be in the nineties right? The Rotten Watch for Frankenweenie is 75%

This poll is no longer available.

Recapping last week:

F#$%ing A, I thought this was going to be my Fall. The Autumn of Doug. Alas, it doesn’t start off well and we may be heading toward a Winter of dis-connect. I need to string together a few good weeks in a row to avoid this.

Looper (Predicted: 91% Actual: 93%) was a win, but I had a huge head start on this one so I can’t really do any back patting. Though I am happy it’s a good movie, and someone is still working creatively in the science fiction, time travel genre.

Hotel Transylvania (Predicted: 56% Actual: 41%) just kept falling during the week. There were a few early reviews out for this one and I had to choose whether it’d tick up or down a notch. Oops.

And finally, Won’t Back Down (Predicted: 53% Actual: 33%) didn’t rally the movie critical, anti-union, pro-privatized education movie reviewer faction quite like it wanted. Not-so-secretly I’m glad this movie bombed, but I still missed by a wide margin on the prediction. I think I might have been hedging my feelings on this movie with want to come close on the score.

Next time around we’ve got Ben Affleck rescuing diplomats, Kevin James doing MMA, Colin Farrell snatching canines and Ethan Hawke solving crimes. It’s going to be a Rotten Week!

This summer, we saw stop-motion animation applied to a horror-comedy with ParaNorman, and it'll happen again when Tim Burton's Frankenweenie hits theaters next month. The 3D black-and-white stop motion-animated film pays homage to Frankenstein as it follows a boy who uses science to bring his deceased dog back to life. A new clip for the film has arrived and it looks like a demonstration of just how crazy things can get when pets are brought back.

Is it possible that there's some sort of magnification thing happening during the process of reanimating dead animals? Because that seems to be what's happening here, as we see one character running from a herd of seamonkeys, while another is being pursued by something even bigger.

Is that a turtle? Whatever it is, it's definitely a bigger problem.

I think it's going to be impossible not to draw comparisons between ParaNorman and Frankenweenie, as both are stop-motion, both involve the dead coming back to life in some way, both include kids, and both combine humor and horror. Watching the above clip, I'm already flashing back to the enjoyable experience of having seen ParaNorman in the theater, so, I don't think the similarities will hurt Frankenweenie. And the black-and-white element should certainly help set Frankenweenie apart from LAIKA's film, not to mention whatever dark-and-twisted additions Tim Burton might bring to this film.

Frankenweenie arrives in theaters October 5. More information can be found in our Blend Film Database.

This fall brings a trio of creepy kiddie flicks, from Laika's ParaNorman to Genndy Tartakovsky's Hotel Transylvania and Disney's Frankenweenie, but only the last comes from the peculiar mind of Tim Burton. Based on his 1984 live-action short of the same name, Frankenweenie centers on an inventive young boy named Victor Frankenstein whose passion for science is only matched by his deep devotion to his dear dog Sparky. So when Sparky meets a premature end, Victor takes his scientific know-how to raise his beloved pup from the dead.

The film's latest trailer showed several elements that pay clear homage to Burton's admitted idol, Vincent Price. Before his death in 1993, the master of old school terror had worked with Burton a handful of times, most memorably playing the mad scientist who created the misunderstood monster at the center of Edward Scissorhands. Mimicking the look of many of Price's films, Burton has opted to make Frankenweenie black and white, taking his penchant for pallor to its natural next step. But the clearest allusion to his long-admired mentor is the character design of Mr. Rzykruski. Voiced by recurring Burton collaborator Martin Landau, Rzykruski the science teacher who accidentally inspires Victor to raise the dead. Take a look at him—along with a string of other curious characters from Frankenweenie--below.

Of course another obvious influence on Frankenweenie is James Whale's classic Frankenstein. The stature, haircut and grim countenance of Nassor (voiced by Martin Short) is a clear descendent of Boris Karloff's iconic monster portrayal. But despite his physical similarities to Frankenstein's monster, Nassor is a shrewd and serious young man who gets wind of Victor's science experiment and won't be stopped until he uncovers the truth.

Also culled from the tropes of classic horror is the name and character design for the treacherous toadie Edgar “E” Gore. Desperate for friends, Edgar (voiced by Atticus Shaffer) is eager to be Victor's science partner and confidante, but when breaking his promise of secrecy could allow for more buddies, he proves to be less than loyal.

And last but not least is a character known only as "weird girl." Voiced by Catherine O'Hara, she is a misfit thanks to her penchant for doling out ominous warnings with an eerie stare. Well, it wouldn't be a Tim Burton movie without a haunted and lonely girl, would it?

Frankenweenie opens October 5th. To see more from the movie, head over to our Blend Film Database.

Excitement for Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie has been running high all day. The panel for the upcoming film kicked off with a trailer done as an homage to old horror film filled with creepy quotes, aggressive narration and a crack about it being in “The Third Dimension”. Those who were there began tweeting about the trailer immediately, with buzz being almost exclusively positive. The footage was later followed by two more clips which also wowed the crowd.

Not surprisingly, the Q&A quickly turned into nerd paradise, but luckily for those of us who weren’t in attendance, Disney has been kind enough to put the old-timey greatness online. You can watch the clip in all its glory below…

I was not sold on the first trailer. I thought it looked okay, but it wasn’t quite enough to raise my excitement level. This, on the other hand, is beautiful. Funny and weird, it’s everything and more we’d expect from the brilliant brain of Tim Burton, and it makes me want to pay to see his film immediately. Unfortunately, thanks to a few release date shuffles, we’re now stuck waiting until October 5 to see the work in its entirety. Expect Disney to roll out a few more clips and possibly even a new trailer by then in an effort to build off all the good will generated here today.

It's a thrilling day for fans of stop-motion! First ParaNorman's makers gave us a look at how their characters are constructed, and now Disney is taking fans behind the scenes of their upcoming animated adventure Frankenweenie with a clip unlike any we've seen before.

Producer Allison Abbate serves as guide on a 360° tour of the sets of Frankenweenie, and as she introduces you to the town of New Holland as its residents celebrate their annual Dutch Day celebration. But what's extraordinary is the clips ability to let you look about as she talks. Observe the panel below the main image. By clicking within it, you choose the camera perspective of the main window. Then, within the main window, you'll notice small green circles. Clicking on these circles put the presentation on pause then activates additional information, from the film's synopsis to concept art, details on the voice cast, and even some downloadable art. And for those of you sneaking this vid at work—or for those who are hearing impaired—Disney provides subtitles of the whole spiel. Check out the behind-the-scenes tour HERE

Inspired by Tim Burton's 1984 live-action short, Frankenweenie focuses on a young boy with an undying devotion to his recently deceased dog that inspires him to play mad scientist, bringing Sparky back to life. The look of this animated adventure has a distinctly Burton, and bring his creepy cartoon characters to life is a voice cast that includes some of his past collaborators, like Catherine O'Hara, Winona Ryder (both of Beetlejuice), Martin Landau (Ed Wood), Martin Short (Mars Attacks!) and Christopher Lee (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Dark Shadows).

Frankenweenie opens October 5th, until then find out more at our Blend Film Database.

If you've spent the last few years wishing Tim Burton would get back to his spooky roots, you'll be getting exactly what you wished for with this fall's Frankenweenie. A full-length, animated adaptation of Burton's 1984 short film, Frankenweenie is the story of a young boy named Victor Frankenstein who missed his dog Sparky so much that he brings him back from the dead. You could see in the first trailer that the animation style and the slightly gross subject matter felt a lot like Burton's earlier films like Edward Scissorhands and A Nightmare Before Christmas, and now we've exclusively bringing you a closer look at the two main characters, Victor and Sparky, to see just how detailed that character design is. We've also got Facebook profile covers and wallpapers for your phone or laptop, all available for download here.

First, meet Victor, the boy who makes it all possible.

Downloads:

Victor Facebook Profile Cover

Victor Wallpaper 640x960

Victor Wallpaper 1024x1024

Victor Wallpaper 1600x1200

And now here's Sparky, the dog who's just as much fun to be around after his death.

Downloads:

Sparky Facebook Profile Cover

Sparky Wallpaper 640x960

Sparky Wallpaper 1024x1024

Sparky Wallpaper 1600x1200

For more on Frankenweenie you can visit the film's page in our Blend Film Database, or go here to read about Eric's early look at the film. Frankenweenie opens in theaters October 5.

Though Tim Burton hasn't exactly impressed me thus far this year (I'm still amazed by how bad Dark Shadows turned out to be), I'm still excited for Frankenweenie, the filmmakers latest stop-motion animated film based on a short that he directed back in 1984. The movie isn't due out until October, but we've already seen quite a bit from the movie, including a trailer, a poster, and multiple behind-the-scenes images and stills. Today we have a brand spanking new poster to add to the collection.

Set over from Disney, the new artwork for the kiddy-horror film can be seen below and you can click on it to see it in high-res over in our database.

Based on a script by John August (Big Fish, Go), Frankenweenie tells the story of a young boy named Victor who is best friends with his dog, Sparky. One day, however, there is a tragic accident and Sparky is killed, leaving Victor inconsolable. As part of a class assignment, the protagonist then tries to harness the power of lightning to bring Sparky back to life and is successful...but at what cost? The film features the voice talents of Charlie Tahan, Catherine O'Hara, Martin Short, Martin Landau, Winona Ryder and Christopher Lee. There's a very good chance that a new trailer will pop online soon, but until then to see more from the new Burton movie head over to our Blend Film Database.

Dark Shadows the new film from director Tim Burton, arrives in theaters this Friday, but that’s not the only Burton movie that will be released in 2012. This October, Walt Disney Animation will present Frankenweenie, Burton’s first stop-motion film since 2005’s Corpse Bride. While we obviously still have a few months before the movie will be in theaters, last week I had the chance to not only see 26 minutes of footage, but talk with Burton, production designer Rick Heinrichs, and producers Don Hahn and Allison Abbate.

Based on the live-action short film that Burton directed all the way back in 1984, the story is about a young boy named Victor (Charlie Tahan) whose dog, Sparky, is killed when he gets hit by a car. Unwilling to accept his dog’s death and inspired by the upcoming science fair, Victor figures out a way to possibly bring his dog back to life. While the young boy’s plan works and he is reunited with his best friend, things start going wrong when knowledge about Sparky’s resurrection begins to spread.

The Frankenweenie press day began with a small group of journalists, including myself, going to a screening room in Santa Monica, California where we watched nearly half-an-hour of the movie that was cut together from the first two acts of the film by Burton himself. Following the screening, I paired up with Germain Lussier from SlashFilm to record a video blog about what we got to see. Watch the video below!

Crafting The World Of Frankenweenie

After the screening, the other journalists and myself were brought in for a roundtable interview with Rick Heinrichs, who served as the production designer on the movie. The film is far from the first time that Heinrichs has worked with Burton, as he served as a production designer on Sleepy Hollow, Planet of the Apes, and Dark Shadows; set designer on Edward Scissorhands; visual effects consultant on Beetlejuice; and animated effects supervisor on Pee-wee’s Big Adventure.

“His talents and mine intermeshed rather than competed,” Heinrichs said when talking about how he first came to work with Burton. “And probably a lot of it is that I really dug what he was doing and wanted to see it develop. With any relationship over years, it evolves. We’ve gone our separate ways and done different things… and it feels great to pick that up again.”

Talking about the early days of working with the director, Heinrichs said that he has had an eye on Burton’s work since their early days together at Disney and that his work as a sculptor and forming 3D models of Burton’s drawings led to their use of stop-motion.

“I have to go back to our early days at Disney. We were both with many other CalArts people, young people at the time because they were kind of regenerating the studio. We were all working on The Fox and the Hound… And we’d just do stuff on the outside – make Super 8 movies, do anything we could to keep our blood going, and I had always been a fan of Tim’s own work and we ended up producing his sketches, and what was appealing about him was the sense of character, economy of line and I wanted to make it three-dimensional.”

Discussing Frankenweenie specifically, the production designer said that his favorite thing about working on the new project is that it maintains its crafted qualities and doesn’t just look like a movie that could have been made on a computer. “What I love about it is that it still feels handmade,” he said. “You can still kind of see the hand of the animator in there in all of the passion that they’re putting into the character. And you don’t necessarily think about it when you’re watching it, which is great – it does feel like the actors are really acting – but those animators are just amazing.”

Bringing Frankenweenie To Life

Producer Allison Abbate has also worked with Burton before, but unlike Heinrichs, she has only worked with him on his stop-motion features, which have included the aforementioned Corpse Bride and A Nightmare Before Christmas (which Burton didn’t direct, but did produce). Still, however, Abbate did see a difference between the director’s work on this film and his previous stop-motion work.

Said Abbate, “For me, because I was around on Nightmare Before Christmas, and that was another one that was kind of a story from his youth, and then there was Corpse Bride, and I do feel like this is very different, because not only is it a story that he came up with many years ago, but then it also has so many autobiographical kind of features to it, so for him I think it was just a very personal process.”

Because of Frankenweenie’s nature as a riff on classic horror, there has been some question as to how old children will have to be to see the movie. In the footage we got to see there were definitely some creepy moments, but the producers assure audiences that this is a movie for everyone.

“It’s a general audience movie,” said Executive Producer Don Hahn. “It’s in context of Halloween and it’s got a release in October – it’s such an audience movie. I think it’s no different than A Nightmare Before Christmas. I may not take my five year old to see this because there are some intense parts towards the end, but that’s the same for Avengers and Chimpanzee…we certainly made this for families to go see.”

One thing that makes the film so special is that it also happens to be in black and white – a quality that isn’t typically seen in many kids movies this day. While some might fear that this look could potentially turn younger members of the audience away, as they don’t want to see some old-looking movie, the truth is that younger members of test audiences have actually been interested by the look.

“I’ve shown little bits to kids, we’ve had kids come in to see it and for them it’s just a cool looking movie - especially if they haven’t seen a lot of old movies, it’s like ‘Sweet! How did you do that?’” Abate said, laughing.

Frankenweenie will arrive in theaters on October 5th and stay tuned here on Cinema Blend later today when my interview with Tim Burton goes online. In the meantime, to read more about the stop-motion animated movie head over to our Blend Film Database.

If you've been hoping that Tim Burton would eventually go back to his dark and weird roots, it's hard to ask for more than Frankenweenie, an animated feature-length version of his 1984 short, in which a dead dog is brought back to life. As you can see in the film's first trailer, which debuted today at Yahoo!, the Frankenstein parody is still in place, but transferred to a young boy who just wants to bring his beloved pet back. Check out how it happens in the trailer below.

With the black-and-white color and the rounded, odd creature design, this looks more like the Tim Burton we knew from Edward Scissorhands and The Nightmare Before Christmas than anything we've seen in, well, ages. And while there's no sense of what happens when the kid brings Sparky back to life-- though you can imagine the consequences-- the story seems a little more contained than something like Alice in Wonderland or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, where Burton and his imagination were running wild. Adapting one of his earliest short films is the most obvious way for Burton to "return to his roots," but it really does seem to be happening here regardless-- it feels like Frankenweenie could have been made in 1992, and for once, that's a good thing.

Burton fans have a lot to look forward to this year, with the vampire soap opera adaptation Dark Shadows coming May 11 and Frankenweenie coming later in the fall, on October 5. The movies look completely and totally different from each other, but let's compare them for now anyway-- which of Tim Burton's new movies are you looking forward to most?

With every new film Tim Burton puts out, I find it harder and harder to be excited by his new projects, but Frankenweenie is definitely an exception. A stop-motion animated remake of the short film he made all the way back in 1984, the movie represents a literal return to the filmmakers roots. The new film isn't going to hit theaters until October of next year, but the folks at Disney's D23 this past summer got a sneak peek at the project and now two stills have arrived online, giving us our first official look at the characters.

Check out the images below or full-size over on EW.

As you can see, one of the coolest aspects of Frankenweenie is that it's being made entirely in black and white, just like the short it's based on and just like the movie the original was parodying: James Whale's 1931 classic Frankenstein. The movie also reunites Burton with some of the actors he worked with early in his career not named Johnny Depp, including Winona Ryder, Catherine O'Hara, Conchata Ferrell, Martin Short and Martin Landau (Tom Kenny also provides a few voices). The movie is about a young boy named Victor Frankenstein whose heart is broken when his best friend in the world, his dog Sparky, is hit by a car. In an act of grief, he attempts an experiment that results in Sparky being brought back to life.

Frankenweenie arrives in theaters on October 5, 2012. To learn more about the project, be sure to head over to our Blend Film Database.

Today Disney announced release dates for two of their upcoming features, John Carter of Mars and Frankenweenie. Mars, headed up by Andrew Stanton, will be the Pixar director's first time doing a live-action feature. Frankenweenie is an expansion of sorts on the Tim Burton short film of the same name. It's not officially been announced, but many expect Burton to take up the reins and direct this one as well.

Stanton's John Carter of Mars will be released on June 8, 2012. It's an adaptation of the pulp-adventure novels by Edgard Rice Burroughs. Specifically, it will center around the first of his stories to feature the John Carter character, A Princess of Mars, which was first published as a novel in 1917. The story finds Carter as a Civil War veteran who goes to sleep in a cave after being chased by Apache, and wakes up on Mars. It's definitely a fantastical take on Sci-Fi, and it'll be very interesting to see how Stanton brings his Pixar sensibilities to a live-action film like this. He's best known for directing Finding Nemo and WALL-E, so there's really no question no questioning his talent, but how will it translate to live action?

Frankenweenie is a different matter. Premiering on March 9, 2012, this stop-motion, black and white, 3D project has Burton written all over it. Currently he's listed as a producer, but according to Don Hahn in March, Burton was interested in directing as well. The original short follows a young boy named Victor Frankenstein who attempts to reanimate his dog Sparky after it is hit by a car. The production on the short is an interesting story in itself. It caused Burton to be fired by Disney after the film was completed. The studio then believed that the short was too scary for young audiences, and that Burton had wasted the company's resources and time. It was later given a home video release in 1994, after the success of Burton films like Batman and Pee-wee's Big Adventure. You can watch the entire Frankenweenie short in three parts, embedded below:

The movie version of Frankenweenie is set to follow the original story pretty closely, with some obvious expansion on the ideas and some new characters. Character descriptions in a leaked casting call include a Japanese boy who creates a Godzilla-like lizard and a middle-eastern boy who brings his mummified hamster back to life.

While I wasn't a very big fan of Burton's most recent work in Alice in Wonderland, there’s plenty of potential for this film to have an incredibly unique look in black and white and 3D. Add to this Burton's excellent stop-motion sensibility, having produced two films by Henry Selick and directed Corpse Bride himself, and we could have the makings of a really special and unique animated feature.

Tim Burton's Frankenweenie, a black and white short he made while still toiling as an animator at Disney, has been slated for the big-budget, stop-motion, feature-length treatment for a while now, ever since they brought him on board to make the 3D Alice in Wonderland that everyone is salivating over right now.

It's been presumed Frankenweenie will be gearing up once Alice is finished, in time to meet its 2011 release date, and Coming Soon spoke to producer Allison Abbate to find out just that. The real news is that they're still considering making it in black-and-white and 3D, which I'm pretty sure would be a first for the digital 3D format. I'm surprised that they haven't committed to 3D yet, actually, given that every other Disney animated movie is committed to 3D in the foreseeable future, and they've been planning Frankenweenie for years.

The other tidbit of news is that the film will be shot at Three Mills Studio in London, where Wes Anderson's stop-motion The Fantastic Mr. Fox filmed earlier this year.